Who Moved My Litter Box?

Imagine there are 3 critical parts to your day – eating, sleeping, and doing your business in the litter box.

That pretty much sums up the life of my three cats (and all cats for that matter), right?

Last year between May and September our house flooded not once, not twice, but FOUR times. By flooded I mean my office, the kitchen, and the living room (we do not have a basement). This resulted in upheaval that I was too distressed to even write about. Between the mess, the expense, and the insurance company thumbing its nose at us, I was not a happy camper.

Yet life and business carries on so that’s what we did. Furniture was moved hither and yon on a weekly if not daily basis; carpet was flooded, dried, flooded again and ultimately ripped out (first in sections then every darn inch of it). I literally launched a client’s webinar while standing in a ½ inch of water. You do what you have to do.

Chaos and Disruption

Truly the only two words to describe this.

Cats do not like chaos or disruption. In fact as cat owners know, the smallest disturbance can result in major behavioral disasters.

Move one small thing?

A cat may decide to pee on the couch.

Remove their favorite piece of furniture?

They might decide not to eat.

The more subtle among the feline persuasion will just internalize their stress and get mysteriously ill so you can spend hundreds (or more) at the vet trying to solve the puzzle.

That is why I half expected my cats to hold signs that said:

WHERE IS MY LITTER BOX NOW??!!

In the course of our six months of misery if their litter boxes (of which there are two) were not moved at least a few dozen times, I’d be surprised.

They were moved for any number of the following:

Safety reasons

To higher, dryer ground

Upstairs to a less disrupted space

Upstairs behind closed doors when contractors were working (and kitties were sequestered)

Out of the only walkway through the first floor

Onto the concrete, off of the concrete…

And on and on…

On any day it was the litter box version of “Who Moved My Cheese?”

Now you might not personally use a litter box (I sure hope so!) but when it comes to business and technology, doesn’t it sometimes feel like –

Who moved things now?

When did all this change overnight?

It is disruptive and exhausting at best…

…distressing and costly at its worse.

And, no matter how upset you might be, you can’t solve a darn thing by peeing in the corner of your office.

You aren’t peeing in the corner of your office, right? [just joking!]

Yet it can feel overwhelming and out of your control.

If you’ve ever felt this way, hit reply and let me know.

One thing I am infinitely grateful for about last year is the fact that my three furry babies displayed uncommon resilience and while distressed; they didn’t act out (much). I certainly couldn’t have blamed them if they did. I certainly did.